A stunning new report reveals that illegal border crossings have collapsed to their lowest levels in years, with U.S. Customs and Border Protection marking 16 consecutive months of zero releases of illegal aliens into the American interior. The numbers, reviewed by Breitbart Texas from unofficial Border Patrol reports, show approximately 8,900 illegal aliens were apprehended in September after crossing between ports of entry—a figure that brings total FY26 apprehensions to just under 137,000.
Compare that to the peak of the Biden border crisis in FY23, when Border Patrol agents apprehended 2,475,669 illegal aliens along the southwest border. The difference is a jaw-dropping 94.47 percent decrease, according to the unofficial report reviewed by Breitbart Texas.
"It's not out officially yet, but we're going to report soon: a full year with no releases from the border," CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott told Breitbart's Matthew Boyle in an exclusive interview earlier this month.
The Trump administration is expected to report the FY26 year-end number at nearly 137,000—a figure that represents a dramatic reversal from the open-border policies of the previous administration.
FROM CATASTROPHE TO CONTROL
The transformation began immediately after President Donald Trump's inauguration on January 20, 2025. During the first fiscal year of Trump's second administration, migrant apprehensions fell from 2,135,005 in FY24 to 443,671 in FY25, according to official CBP reports. That downward trajectory has only accelerated.
The most vulnerable victims of the Biden-era border chaos—unaccompanied alien children—have also seen dramatic improvement. CBP reported that in FY23, 137,235 UACs were apprehended at the border. That number fell to slightly more than 7,600 in FY26.
While the success at the border is undeniable, a separate analysis from the Center for Immigration Studies published Monday reveals a troubling shift in who is attempting to enter the country through legal ports of entry. Terrorism-related encounters at southwest border ports are up approximately 21,600 percent from fiscal 2024 to fiscal 2026.
According to CBP enforcement statistics cited by Just the News, there were 52 terrorism-related encounters at southwest ports in fiscal 2024. Through August of fiscal year 2026, the same Terrorist Screening Dataset table lists 11,283.
Andrew Arthur, the Center for Immigration Studies fellow who authored the report, told Just the News that the rise is partly a border security metric. With illegal entries at historic lows, people with terrorism-related records are more likely to try the ports, where officers are posted to stop them.
The same report noted that encounters between the ports did not move with the port numbers. Border Patrol recorded 105 terrorism-related encounters on the southwest border between ports of entry so far in fiscal 2026, against 172 in fiscal 2023, 106 in fiscal 2024, and 98 in fiscal 2022.
Arthur also pointed to a definition change. On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order directing the designation of cartels and other entities as foreign terrorist organizations and specially designated global terrorists. On February 20, 2025, the State Department designated eight groups under both labels, including Tren de Aragua, MS-13, the Sinaloa cartel, Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación, Cártel del Noreste, and La Nueva Familia Michoacana.
'PROMISES MADE, PROMISES KEPT'
The border numbers represent a fulfillment of Trump's central campaign promise—one that Democrats and their media allies insisted was impossible or inhumane to implement. Yet the results speak for themselves: 16 months without a single Border Patrol release into the interior. The chain migration that fueled the Biden-era crisis has been severed.
Not everyone is celebrating the enforcement success. A Cato Institute analysis from last month determined that the Trump administration curtailed legal immigration entries by nearly three times the amount it reduced unauthorized border crossings, challenging assertions that immigration policies primarily targeted illegal entry.
But supporters of the administration argue that a secure border is the foundation for any functional immigration system—and that the Trump policies are restoring order after years of chaos.
The Trump administration will soon release the official FY26 year-end numbers. Commissioner Scott indicated the data will confirm what the unofficial reports already show: a full year with no releases from the border.
Meanwhile, the administration continues to push for mass deportation operations and has promised additional resources for Border Patrol and ICE agents who are carrying out enforcement of the nation's immigration laws.
Our Take
This is what winning looks like. For four years, Americans were told the border crisis was a myth, a manufactured problem, or somehow beyond the control of the federal government. They were told that walls don't work, that enforcement is cruel, and that the only humane solution was to process and release every illegal alien who showed up.
President Trump proved them all wrong. His policies—remain in Mexico, border wall completion, ending catch-and-release, and empowering Border Patrol to actually do their jobs—have delivered exactly what he promised. The numbers don't lie: a 94 percent drop in illegal crossings. Zero releases for 16 months. Unaccompanied alien children numbers slashed from over 137,000 to roughly 7,600. Every American community that was flooded with illegal aliens, every family that paid the price for Biden's open border, and every border state taxpayer deserves to see these results celebrated.
The terrorism-related encounters at the ports should concern every patriot. They show that our enemies adapt—but they also show that our officers are catching them. That's what border security looks like when it's done right.
And to the globalists who claimed this level of enforcement was impossible? The numbers are in. The border is secure. The law is being enforced. And the American people are safer for it.
The Trump administration has done exactly what it said it would do. The only question now is: will Congress finish the job by funding the wall and fully backing ICE? Or will establishment politicians find a way to sabotage the most effective border enforcement effort in American history?
Americans should demand nothing less than full support for the president who finally fixed our broken border.
